Retail Leader

Job description

Mission Brief: Reinvent Physical Retail at India’s Largest Eyewear Company This is a high-impact leadership role focused on owning and transforming Lenskart’s entire offline retail ecosystem — 2,000+ stores, 10,000+ frontline team members, and a network that serves over 40 million customers across India, Singapore, the Middle East, Japan, and the US. You will be the single architect responsible for how physical retail performs, scales, and evolves at South Asia’s largest eyewear company. Your mission is to bridge the gap between cutting-edge retail technology and exponential offline growth. You will be building the system that ensures every Lenskart store delivers a world-class, AI-enhanced customer experience — while driving ₹500 Cr+ in revenue with relentless operational discipline. Backed by SoftBank, Temasek, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Lenskart is not just selling eyewear — we are building the future of retail, and you will lead it from the front. 🔑 Core Mandate: Revenue, Operations & AI-Powered Retail Transformation P&L Ownership & Revenue Growth (The Business Builder’s Focus) Revenue Architect: Own the end-to-end P&L for the offline retail vertical, driving top-line revenue, margin expansion, and store-level profitability across 2,000+ company-owned and franchise stores. Data-Driven Performance Engine: Build a robust performance management framework powered by real-time dashboards and AI-driven analytics — tracking footfall conversion, ATV, ABS, NPS, repeat rate, and store-level profitability to drive decisions at speed. Turnaround Intelligence: Leverage predictive analytics and AI-powered diagnostic tools to identify underperforming stores, diagnose root causes before they escalate, and implement rapid turnaround plans that move the needle in weeks, not quarters. Operational Excellence at Scale: Establish and drive best-in-class retail operating standards — from store opening/closing SOPs to AI-optimized visual merchandising, smart inventory management, and automated customer service protocols. 2. Customer Experience & Tech-Driven Retail Innovation (The Experience Visionary’s Focus) Experience Guardian: Be the single point of accountability for how every Lenskart store feels — ensuring a consistent, premium, and differentiated brand experience across metros, Tier 2, and Tier 3 cities. AI-Powered Personalization Champion: Drive the adoption and scaling of Lenskart’s proprietary retail technology stack — including 3D virtual try-on, AI-powered lens recommendations, computer vision-based eye testing, and omnichannel integration (online-to-offline, BOPIS) — making every store visit smarter and more personalized. Automation & Process Innovation: Champion process automation across the store network — POS optimization, AI-driven CRM, smart queue management, and digital tools that boost in-store efficiency and free up your teams to focus on what matters: the customer. Insight-Led Iteration: Monitor and act on customer feedback, AI-analyzed mystery shopping audits, and real-time NPS data to continuously elevate the retail experience at scale. 3. People Leadership, Franchise Growth & Cross-Functional Impact (The Scale Leader’s Focus) Talent Architect: Lead, mentor, and inspire a large distributed retail workforce — Regional Managers, Area Managers, Store Managers, and 10,000+ frontline staff. Build a world-class retail talent pipeline through structured hiring, AI-assisted onboarding, L&D programs, and career pathing that retains your best people. Culture Builder: Foster a high-performance, customer-first culture with clear accountability, recognition frameworks, and incentive structures. Drive employee engagement, retention, and reduce attrition through strong people practices and ground-level connect. Franchise Growth Engine: Oversee the franchise network — ensuring brand compliance, operational consistency, and commercial alignment with franchise partners. Partner with the Franchise Development team to identify high-potential markets, onboard new partners, and optimize the franchise P&L model. Cross-Functional Catalyst: Partner with Marketing on hyperlocal campaigns and store-level activations. Collaborate with Product, Tech, and Supply Chain teams to ensure seamless inventory availability, AI-driven assortment planning, and in-store tech deployment. Represent the retail vertical in leadership reviews, board discussions, and investor interactions. The Essentials Experience: 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in offline/physical retail, ideally across multi-unit, multi-geography operations with direct P&L accountability and revenue targets of ₹500 Cr+. Proven track record of managing 500+ stores at scale. Domain Expertise: Deep knowledge of retail operations, store performance management, customer experience design, and scaling retail networks across metros, Tier 2, and Tier 3 cities in India. Technical Fluency: Strong comfort with data, real-time dashboards, AI/ML-driven decision tools, and tech-enabled retail operations. You don’t need to write code — but you must think in systems and demand data-driven outcomes from your teams. Education: MBA from a Tier 1 institution preferred. Backgrounds in organized retail, D2C, QSR, fashion, or lifestyle brands are a strong plus. The Mindset Systems Thinker & Tech Evangelist: You see retail not as a collection of stores, but as a scalable system that gets smarter with every data point. You are energized by the intersection of physical retail and AI-driven technology, and you champion automation and innovation across every touchpoint. Commercial Rigor & Speed: You thrive on balancing aggressive growth ambitions with operational discipline and profitability — and you do it at the pace of a founder-led, high-growth tech company. Ambiguity excites you; complexity is your competitive advantage. Transformational People Leader: You are a compelling communicator who builds followership at every level — from the shop floor to the boardroom. You have a track record of building, scaling, and retaining large distributed teams, and you believe that the best retail brands are built by the best people. Why This Role? Why Now? Build at Unprecedented Scale: Lead one of India’s largest retail networks with 2,000+ stores and growing — this is one of the most significant offline retail leadership roles in the country. Tech + Retail = The Future: Work at the intersection of cutting-edge AI technology and physical retail innovation. Lenskart is not a traditional retailer — we are a technology company that happens to have stores. Founder-Led & Fast: Be part of a founder-driven organization with a bias for speed, experimentation, and impact. Decisions happen fast here — and so does your career. Global Ambition: Shape the international expansion of a homegrown brand going global. Category Leadership: Join the market leader in India’s ₹30,000 Cr eyewear market.